Light electric freight vehicle concept : A pedal assist trike designed for urban last mile deliveries

Sammanfattning: In recent years there has been a shift in the way consumer products are being purchased shifting from physical in-store shopping to online shopping. A vast amount of goods, express deliveries and simple returns have led to the need for new tools and methods for the delivery industry. At the same time, the environmental crisis is ongoing, and preventive regulations are being implemented in countries worldwide, directly affecting the urban transport sector. One step that has been taken by the urban transportation sector is the implementation of different types of electric vehicles for last mile deliveries of goods. The Swedish motorcycle manufacturer Cake launched their first motorcycle in 2017 and have since then launched other models. More recently Cake has brought products to the market that aim toward business to business. As a part of this effort, Cake was interested in the development of a concept within the last mile delivery sector. The purpose of the project was to investigate last mile deliveries in urban environments to learn what requirements there were on light electric freight vehicles being used. The goal was to define and develop a light electric freight vehicle concept for Cake. Following the double diamond methodology, research was conducted on state of theart, stakeholder needs and EU regulations leading to user insights and a requirements specification. Based on the insights and requirements, concepts were developed through an iterative process, leading to a final concept. The final concept was a 800mm wide trike operated by pedal assist, with the capability to transport cargo that has the area of an EUR pallet behind the driver while still being allowed in bicycle lanes. The concept was validated by building a full scale prototype and conducting tests on it against the insights and requirements specification.